117 - Introduction to UNIT 08

In focusing on additions of non-biblical material to the Koran it is again helpful to distinguish between two types of additions:

1. Primary additions of non-biblical material to the Koran: these have far reaching consequences for the rest of the Koran and constitute a root of the different worlds that are set up in the Bible and the Koran.

2. Secondary additions of non-biblical material to the Koran: these can often be explained on the basis of previous primary additions of non-biblical material to the Koran. Often, they are consequences of primary additions.

For each addition we will apply the general procedure outlined in UNIT 06 above. For the case of additions this means that we will have to ask questions like the following ones:

1. For a specific biblical subject: what is the content and koranic significance of Koran verses on this subject, which were added in the Koran, when compared with the Bible? Here you need to examine in some detail the non-biblical material that was added to the Koran. For this you can analyze the added verses as they appear in the Koran, trying to understand their content in the context of the Koran as a whole. Then in a second step you need to locate and analyze the Bible verses, if any, that conflict or oppose the verses that were added to the Koran. Finally, when applicable, you need to contrast the koranic context of these additions with the biblical context of the Bible passages that conflict or oppose the added verses of the Koran.

2. From where did the Koran get the added verses? Next you seek to elucidate these additions of non-biblical material to the Koran, by trying to explain and interpret the reasons for and consequences from these additions of non-biblical material to the Koran. One way to do this is to try to find pre-Islamic sources that are similar to the added verses in the Koran and take the context of these pre-Islamic sources seriously in understanding the Koran.

3. What can you do about this in your ministry serving Christ among Muslims? Just as in the case with omissions from the Bible, here again you need to assess the result of this comparative analysis and discuss how to use and apply such findings in your Christian ministry in the Muslim world.

Let us now demonstrate how this procedure works out in specific examples. For this we look in some detail at two examples of what the Koran added to the biblical material on Adam and Eve in Genesis 1 to 5. The first example concerns a primary addition and the second example concerns a minor addition of non-biblical material to the Koran on the biblical subject of Adam.